Dreams and Nightmares
by PotatoCakes
Summary: I'm really not good at these, and I'm not sure how this story will turn out, but: Paige learns the power of nightmares.
1. I need title suggestions

Paige Matthews could feel the evil running through her veins. It was time. She reached for the athame on the table next to her. She pulled back her arm and   
  
flung the knife into her older sister's heart. Phoebe gasped and collapsed onto the floor. One down, one to go. Paige yanked out the knife and allowed the deep red blood   
  
to trickle onto the floor. Then it hit her. Her sister was dying. She had killed her sister. Paige fell to the floor alongside Phoebe.  
  
"Phoebe," she whispered, holding Phoebe's hand in hers. "Phoebe..."  
  
"Paige?" came a voice. "Phoebe? Are you two okay up there?!"  
  
"Piper...Piper..."  
  
"Paige, sweetie, what's wrong?" A faint clunking sounded up the stairs. "Oh my God, Oh my God! Leo!"  
  
"I didn't mean, too, I swear," choked Paige. "I didn't want to!"  
  
"What do you mean, Paige?" Piper asked, aghast at the bloody mess around her.  
  
"Piper, I killed her. I killed Phoebe. I killed my big sister. It- It was like someone took over me. For just a few seconds."  
  
"Shhh, sweetie, we'll figure this out. Just let's take care of Pheebs first." Piper couldn't beleive she was holding together this well. She wanted to scream.   
  
One of her sisters was dying at the hands of another. "Leo!" she called again. "Leo!"  
  
"I'm so sorry, Piper, I'm so, so sorry!"  
  
Piper wrapped her arms around both her baby sisters and cried. Phoebe's heavy breathing grew shallower and shallower. Piper gave one last desperate attempt to   
  
call for her husband. "Leo, Leo!" she sobbed.  
  
Paige broke away from Piper. She swallowed hard and reached for the athame.  
  
"Paige, what the hell are you doing?!"  
  
"I can't live with this, Pipe. Please try and understand." She thrust the athame into her chest. "I can't live with this...I can't...live with this...can't live with this..." 


	2. Nightmares, Movies, and Demons

Piper paused by her youngest sister's room. She had been walking by Paige's door, about to grab something from her own room, when she heard noise coming from Paige's. This was thoroughly confusing to Piper; she knew Paige had been asleep for hours. Her worrying got the better of her and she cracked the door open. Paige was tossing and turning, and shouting in her sleep.  
  
"I can't live with this...can't...live with this!" she cried.   
  
Piper crept into the room and sat down on the bed. Lifting Paige into her arms, she gently said,"Paige, wake up, sweetie. It's okay, shhhh."  
  
Paige gasped as she woke. Her tense body relaxed a little when she found herself in her big sister's arms. Her relaxation ended, however, when she remember her nightmare. "Where's Phoebe?" she asked desperately.  
  
"Phoebe? Pheebs is downstairs." Catching sight of Paige's face, she added, "She's fine. I just left her to go get a movie from my room. Do you want to talk about it? Your nightmare, I mean."  
  
Paige shook her head. "Are you sure, sweetie?"  
  
Paige sighed. "It was stupid, just a nightmare. I--I killed Phoebe, I think I was like posessed...and then you came, but you weren't mad at me...and I killed myself..."  
  
Piper hugged Paige to her chest and kissed the top of her head. Rubbing her back she said, "That's not stupid, Paige. Especially not after that's really happened."  
  
Cuddling into her sister's arms, she didn't reply. Piper just held her there for a few minutes, giving Paige a feeling of safety she hadn't felt in so long. "Wanna come downstairs and watch 'Legally Blonde' with Phoebe and I?"  
  
Paige cast a glance at the red digits of her alarm clock. "At midnight?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Sure." Paige wasn't ready to be left alone. Piper helped Paige up and pulled her by her hand to her room. She lifted the video off of her tv, and Paige and Piper made their way downstairs.  
  
"Weren't you just asleep and what took you so long?" Phoebe asked her sisters as they entered.  
  
"Yes and long story," Piper replied.  
  
"The movie can wait."  
  
"I had a nightmare. I was posessed, I killed you, I killed myself, Piper came in, end of story," Piage explained quickly.  
  
"Right, uh, okay. Movie?"  
  
"Right here," Piper said sticking the tape in the VCR. She settled on the end of the couch and patted the seat beside her. Paige obliged and took her place between her two older sisters. Curling up, she laid her head on Phoebe's shoulder. Phoebe gave her head a light kiss as Piper reached for Paige's hand. I still can't beleive I'm a big sister, Phoebe thought, but it's pretty awesome.  
  
Leo orbed into the kitchen at a quarter til ten and was shocked to find the house was perfectly silent. He exited the kitchen and upon wandering the house, found his three charges curked on the couch, asleep. He smiled, and wished he didn't have to wake them. Especially to have to tell them there was a new demonic enemy on the loose. Paige suddenly began violently thrashing in her sleep. Oh God, He's already got her! he thought. He rushed forward to wake her. "Paige, Paige!"  
  
Paige sat up straight, breathing heavily. "Not again!" she gasped.  
  
Piper, who had just awoken, quickly asked, "Did you have another nightmare?"  
  
Paige nodded as Leo asked, "Another? Did you have some before?"  
  
"One," she responded, as Piper wrapped her arm around her.  
  
Leo took a deep breath. "You'll want to wake Phoebe up. I need to talk to you three."  
  
"Another demon," Piper sighed as she shook her younger sister awake.  
  
"What?" Phoebe groaned. Then she caught sight of her family watching her. She sat up. "Is it another demon?"  
  
"Yes," Leo said. "Oddyseus---"  
  
"Oddyeus as in the Illiad? That is one well-cultured demon mom," Paige said.  
  
"Oddyseus is the demon of nightmares."  
  
"ANOTHER demon of nightmares? How many ARE there?" Piper half exclaimed, half groaned.   
  
"Too many," Phoebe muttered in reply.  
  
"As I was trying to say, Oddyseus causes nightmares. He makes them as convincing and devestating as possible, until the dreamer comes to beleive their true."  
  
"And that does what?" Paige asked, confused.  
  
"Drives them to suicide. Sometimes they even kill themselves in their nightmares as well."  
  
Paige flinched. "I...did."  
  
"You killed yourself in your nightmare?"  
  
"And Phoebe."  
  
"He's going after you first. I'm going to talk to the Elders again. You two," he said, glancing at the two older Halliwells, "keep an eye on her. He'll make her tired and put her to sleep. Wake her up. And keep her away from heights and sharp objects." He bent to give Piper a peck on the cheek, then orbed out, leaving behind three very confused young witches. 


	3. Gone Sleepin'

Piper shifted nervously on the seat. Paige stood up and watched her sisters eying her. "Guys, I'm fine," she said. "I'm not gonna fall asleep, I just woke up."  
  
"But Leo said---" Phoebe began.  
  
"I'm fine. Now let's do something while we wait. I hate just sitting."  
  
Phoebe stood up, too. "You sure you're okay?"  
  
Paige started to nod, but turned into a shake of the head. "I don't know. I mean it's a stupid nightmare demon, and I'm fine as long as I don't go to sleep, but I just get really nervous anytime there's a demon around. I mean, it took me so long to find you guys...I just don't want to lose that."  
  
Phoebe hugged her sister. "Beleive me, Paige, we're not exactly willing to let you go, either." Phoebe began to shout. "And those demon dudes better hear me!" She lowered her voice again. "Paige, we love you, as a sister and a friend. And beleive me, we get scared every time a demon walks in the door, too. But all ends up okay, It always does."  
  
"What about Prue?" Paige asked meakly. "Was that okay?"  
  
Piper spoke up. "It was horrible, but look what we got out of it." Paige looked confused. "You," Piper explained.  
  
"I thought you hated me."  
  
"We're not over that yet?" Piper asked.  
  
"It still kinda hurts," Paige said.  
  
"Don't worry," Phoebe said, "Piper's always a bitch. As if you haven't figured THAT out yet."  
  
"Hey!" Piper shouted. Paige giggled. "This is not funny!" Piper exclaimed, a slight smile escaping her lips.  
  
"Yes it is!" Paige giggled, characteristically brushing her finger across her lips as she laughed. Suddenly sleepiness over came her and she slid onto the couch.  
  
"Paige!" Piper cried, rushing to her side. "Paige, are you okay, sweetie?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired, that's all, nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about." Paige sat up and yawned. "It's all good."  
  
Piper and Phoebe sat down beside her. "It's the demon," Piper said.  
  
"Not yet," Paige said, "That's much too *yawn* fast."  
  
"I don't think so," Phoebe said. "Get up, Paige. We're not letting you fall asleep."  
  
Paige yawned again. "Please, just a few minutes?" Paige begged.  
  
Phoebe glanced at Piper, who shrugged her shoulders. "Five minutes, and then we're waking you up. Got it?"  
  
Paige nodded and leaned back, closing her eyes. "You don't think five minutes will hurt, do you?" Phoebe whispered to Piper.  
  
"It shouldn't," she replied. "She can't get desperate enough to kill herself THAT fast, can she?"  
  
"I dunno. The way she talked, if we died, not meaning to sound all full of myself or anything...let's wake her up!"  
  
"Paige! Paige, sweetie, wake up! PAIGE!!!" Piper screamed, desperately shaking he baby sister. She turned to her other sister. "She won't wake up." 


	4. Dream a Little Dream of Me

"She won't wake up! Why won't she wake up?!" Phoebe screamed.  
"This is not good! This is very not good!" Piper panicked. "Leo? Leo!"  
Leo orbed in, looking annoyed. "I was talking to the Elders. How can we fix this if---you let her go to sleep?!"  
"Just for five minutes," Phoebe whimpered.  
"Five minutes could mean an eternity! Dead, forever!"  
"Oh." Piper trailed off. "Very, very bad."  
"Yeah! Now keep trying to wake her up, I'm gonna go talk to the Elders and see if we can fix this. Again." Leo, more irritated and worried than ever, orbed up to the heavens.  
Piper clenched her fists. "Damn it!"  
  
Paige looked around the dark, shadowy gloom. Where was she? The underworld? Six feet under? Erased from existence? She took a tentative step forward and watched in awe as trees fabricated all around her. And then two of these trees turned into none other than her two half-sisters. They seemed to not notice her, chattering away, being sisterly. Leaving Paige out. "Guys?" Paige whispered. They ignored her. A little louder now. "Guys?" Nope. "Hello?" Still not working. "Piper, Phoebe?"  
The two eyed her. "What do you want?" Piper asked, her voice full of hate.  
"A family," Paige whispered back.  
"Well, look elsewhere."  
"But you're my sisters."  
"Yeah, so?"  
"Now, Piper, at least tell her WHY we don't want her," Phoebe spoke up evilly.  
"Please, guys, love me. All I want is to be loved."  
"Aw, isn't that sad? Piper, go ahead."  
"Let's see number one on the list: we had to lose Prue to get you. Not a great trade. Second, you're only half us. The other half is.not. Thirdly, we just don't like you."  
"You don't like me? What---what did I do to make you hate me?"  
Piper pretended to look thoughtful. "Uh, exist?"  
Paige's eyes welled up. Her "sisters" looked the other way. "I know it was too good to be true," Paige thought aloud.  
  
"Too good to be true?" Phoebe asked Piper.  
"Oh, this is bad. Even worse than her falling asleep and possibly being convinced to kill herself. Now the possible is almost definite. No possibly, definitely. Very much worse. Much, much."  
"Piper."  
"Yeah?"  
"Shut up?"  
"Right. I need to keep a cool head. Cool head. Yes, very good."  
"Shush. Now we are going to solve this. Think."  
"Maybe we should, say, try waking her up again."  
"No sarcasm. This is very serious. We do not want to lose another sister."  
Piper sat down next to Paige and gently set a hand on her shoulder. "Paige, please wake up. Don't do this to yourself. Or us. Please."  
"No, I understand you don't want me around. I'll get rid of myself." Piper and Phoebe jumped. Those were not the words they wanted to hear.  
"Now what?" Piper asked. "I'm out."  
"Um.we can try something.but I don't know if it'll work."  
"What is it already?!"  
"We can, you know, just hold her, make her feel loved, maybe counteract our dream selves."  
"Good plan. Very good plan."  
"Hi, yeah. Put plan into action."  
"Oh, yes." Piper wrapped her arm around Paige. "Honey, I know what you're hearing right now is killing you, but listen to me. The other me. Not the dream me. Yeah. We love you, I love you, and if you die, so does part of us. You helped us get through losing Prue. And, now quoting Pheebs, I was a bitch. But I only met that in a nice way. Honest. The truth is, you were what kept me going. The idea of teaching you, to protect you, that's what I lived for. Please don't do anything stupid." Piper for a second. "Or smart. Just don't do anything at all."  
Phoebe sat down on the other side of her only little sister. "Sorry about her," she whispered, grasping Paige's hand. "She rambles when she gets nervous. If you haven't noticed. Anyways, everything she said holds true for me, too. I really just don't want to lose you, baby sis. I love you." Phoebe kissed the top of Paige's head, brushing her red hair off her face. She squeezed Paige's hand and mouthed to Piper, 'I hope it worked.' Piper nodded in agreement, and the two took to nervously watching their baby sister sleep.  
  
Paige could hear voices. Great, she thought, now I'm going crazy. Best to end it now. Then she listened harder. The voices became louder and clearer. It was her sisters, but not the ones in front of her. Her real ones. It was just a dream. Paige breathed a sigh of relief. This wasn't real, none of this was real. It was all in her control.  
"So you're ready to finally get the hell out of our lives. Thanks. Do you want to do the honors, or should I?" 


	5. DreamBeGone

"How about never? Is never good for you?"  
"No, see, it kind of isn't."  
"Well, I'm sorry, I'm in control here. It's MY dream. Geez, I feel like I should be singing nananabooboo."  
"You amuse me," Phoebe said. "But killing you will be so much more fun than keeping you around."  
"Yay?.Oh, yeah, see, that's a sharp and painful implement you've got there, so let's keep it a good six, seven, maybe even eight feet away. Mm- hmm, thanks."  
Phoebe began to approach Paige with an athame. A fuzzy barrier suddenly sprung up between them. Paige let out a deep sigh. Now all she had to do was get herself out of her dream. Okay, Paige, she said to herself, time to wake up. Now, Paige, now! Why wasn't she waking up?  
  
"This is like listening to one side of a phone conversation! Hey, do you think hitting her over the head with a frying pan will help?" Phoebe asked.  
"What?!" Piper exclaimed.  
Pouring boiling water over her head?"  
"Phoebe."  
"Ice water?"  
"No, no, no, no, no! Phoebe, you are making this very hard on me. I need to worry and panic in peace and quiet."  
"Sorry, Piper."  
  
"I'm not panicking," Paige told herself. "Not panicking. Okay, self- help not working. Thinking calmly. You've gotten out of plenty of stuff like this before!"  
"The barrier can only hold for so long, you know that, Paige. Just give up," Phoebe wheedled.  
"No, I won't!"  
"Come on, Paige, just let us through," tried Piper. "It'll be over soon. Just let down your guard. We're your sisters, you can trust us!"  
"No, you are NOT my sisters! You are a stupid demon who is manipulating my fears and trying to eliminate the Power of Three by killing me.and I'm not going to let you! I'm not gonna kill myself, and I am sure as hell not gonna kill my sisters, so sorry, you are not a winner, please try again next time!"  
  
Paige sat up straight, breathing heavily. Phoebe jumped. Piper rushed forward to the couch. "Wait!" Paige shouted quickly. Piper stopped in her tracks. "You're the good ones, right?"  
Phoebe, who'd been sitting next to her, rushed over and hugged her. "Did that answer your question?"  
Paige nodded and rested her head on Phoebe's shoulder. Piper came to them and sat down on the other side of Paige. "I'm really glad you woke up."  
"Yeah? Me, too.  
"We were getting really worried. Phoebe even considered hitting you over the head with a frying pan."  
"What? I was desperate!"  
"And then there was the boiling water."  
"Stop."  
"And if that didn't work."  
"Piper."  
"Alright, alright." 


	6. Cooking Up Nerves

Piper quickly reached over and turned off the stove burner before the egg and cheese casserole burned. She set the lid on top to keep it warm. After placing blue and purple oven mitts on her hands, Piper pulled her homemade blueberry muffins out of the oven. She carefully set the pan on the spare burners. While they cooled down, she placed a large bowl of strawberries, grapes, and pineapple on the kitchen table. She put an opaque pitcher of fresh orange juice next to the fruit. Piper cooked when she was nervous.  
Phoebe walked into the room. "Mm.smells good. Want some help?"  
"Nah, I'll get it. Shouldn't you be with Paige?"  
"Yeah. If she hadn't kicked me out of the living room. Something about an overprotective big sister."  
Piper smiled as she scraped the egg and cheese casserole onto a dish. "Yeah, well, let her know she has two."  
"I think she knows."  
"I hope so. Will you tell her it's time for breakfast?"  
"Sure." Phoebe practically skipped out of the kitchen and returned dragging a slightly annoyed Paige behind her, just as Piper was placing the eggs and muffins on the table.  
"Ready to eat?" Piper asked.  
"Oh, yeah. I never knew trying not to kill myself would take that much energy."  
Piper and Phoebe laughed. "Well, sit down, honey. I cooked it all for a reason."  
"Thanks, Piper."  
"Yeah, thanks," Phoebe said. The three of them sat down. Piper passed the plate of muffins to her younger sisters and served herself some egg and cheese casserole. Meanwhile, Phoebe had taken two of the delicious looking muffins and passed the plate on to Paige, who swapped her for the bowl of fruit. The sisters each exchanged dishes again until everyone had a full plate. They began to eat, chatting as lightheartedly as possible, each skirting over the fact that there was a very dangerous demon out to get the youngest Halliwell. 


	7. Do it for Paige

A/N: I'm back! And when I finish the two stories I've already started I've got some ideas for series……serieses? What the heck is the plural for series anyway?

Piper and Paige each gave a halfhearted laugh as Phoebe made another stupid crack about the Elders being useless. As true, and ironic, as it was, they just weren't in the mood for laughing. Piper put a piece of pineapple to her lips, then set her fork down again. "Paige, honey, aren't you hungry?"

Phoebe looked up and noticed that Paige had been pushing the food around on her plate. "You aren't tired again already, are you?" Phoebe asked, panicked.

Paige shrugged, "I dunno, I'm just not hungry."

"Sweetie, try and eat something, you need your strength."

"Phoebe's right, Paige, please eat just a little bit."

Paige sighed.

Leo stood in his white robes in front of the council of Elders. "You can't be serious!"

"Do you know us as jokers, Leo?" one of the Elders asked.

"No, but, that can't be true!"

"I wish it were not, but it is, Leo. Odysseus has succeeded in every attempt he has ever made on a witch's life."

"But I can't go down there and tell the sisters that. It will kill Piper and Phoebe; they can't handle losing another sister. These are the Charmed Ones, for god's sake!"

"Leo," the Elder said softly.

"This isn't fair to us, especially not the girls!"

"Leo, listen to us," the Elder said again.

"What can possibly be more important than Paige's life?"

"Leo, you may be able to save her, but she will need her sisters' help. She cannot defeat Odysseus on her own, Charmed One or no."

"How do they do it?"

"We don't know, but we hope the girls will be able to figure something out."

"You hope? You hope?"

"Leo, please remain calm. The girls will have to figure it out."

"And what if they don't?"

"Then Paige will die."

Paige stood up and stretched. "Are you tired?" Phoebe asked quickly.

"No, worrywart, I'm fine. I'm just full. And a little tense."

"Well that's understandable, sweetie," Piper said. "You've been through a lot."

"Yeah, yeah." Paige reached for her plate.

"Hey, I tell you what," Phoebe said, "after we get cleaned up, why don't you relax and I'll give you one of my world famous back rubs."

"She's good," Piper admitted.

"That'd be great, thanks, Phoebe," Paige said with a smile. She picked up her plate and started for the sink. Piper and Phoebe turned back to their own meals. Suddenly they heard a shattering noise behind them. "Oh god, I'm so sorry!" Paige cried. She began to waver and stumbled around blindly searching for the counter to support herself.

"Paige!" Phoebe rushed to steady her. Piper hurried to Paige's other side and added her support to that of Phoebe's. Paige sagged in her sisters' arms.

"C'mon, Phoebe, let's get her over to the couch." Phoebe and Piper guided their younger sister to the living room. "Okay, honey, we're almost there. Just a few more steps, Paige."

"I'm so sorry!"

"Honey, it's just a plate, it can be replaced. You can't," Phoebe reassured her.

"Do you know what happened?" Piper asked as she and Phoebe helped Paige onto the couch.

"I-I don't know. I just got dizzy and I felt so tired and I thought I was going to fall over."

"You nearly did," Phoebe said as she kneeled down in front of Paige.

"I know."

Blue and white orbs filled the stairway. Leo walked down the steps slowly, Piper watching his every move. He nodded his head towards the kitchen. "Why don't you sit here for a couple minutes and rest?" Paige nodded. "Phoebe, watch her." Phoebe showed her agreement by moving so that she was sitting to the left of Paige.

"Go ahead," Phoebe said, noticing Leo. She gently rubbed Paige's back as the married couple walked into the kitchen.

Piper poured herself a cup of coffee. "Well, what did they say?" she asked Leo urgently.

"It's not too good."

"What do you mean by 'not too good'? Is it a 'this is going to be a hard demon to vanquish' or a 'Paige's life really hangs in the balance' hard?"

Leo sighed. "Both."

"You don't mean—she won't die, will she?"

"I don't know, Piper. Odysseus has never failed at killing a witch." Piper buried her head in Leo's chest.

"I-I don't want to lose her, Leo."

"The Elders think you have a better chance of saving her if you and Phoebe help her."

"How-how do we help her?"

"I don't know."

"What about the Elders?"

"They don't know either."

"There's a shocker. How the hell are we supposed to do this!"

"You'll think of something, honey, you always do. It's going to be okay."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. As long as you love her, you will find a way."

"We didn't with Prue."

"Prue has nothing to do with this, Piper. You have to keep her out of this, keep a clear head. Do it for Paige."

"I will. I will bring down the entire world of evil of that's what I have to do to save her."


	8. Chapter 8

Grimly, Piper walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch. Her younger sisters looked up at her expectantly. She remained silent for a moment until Phoebe finally asked, "Well?"

"Leo said it would be difficult to beat this guy."

"How difficult?" Paige asked quickly.

"You'll need a lot of help," Piper replied. "But we'll get through this."

Paige nodded. "I know," she whispered.

"What are we supposed to do?" Phoebe questioned her older sister.

"I don't know," Piper admitted. "I wish I did."

"Then we probably need the Book of Shadows. Paige, will you orb it down here?"

"Personal-" Paige began.

"Forget personal gain," Piper interrupted. "We need the book."

"Book of Shadows!" Paige nearly dropped the heavy book as it appeared in her hands.

"Whoa now!" Phoebe said taking the book from Paige and placing it on her own lap. "Don't want to drop it." She began to flip through the pages looking for Odysseus. "Here we go. I found him. Let's see. Demon of nightmares, yada yada yada. Kills people with their dreams and nightmares, yada yada yada. No one has ever escaped, yada yada yada."

"Well, those are reassuring odds," Paige said sarcastically.

"Shush," Phoebe hushed her. "They are not the Charmed Ones' odds. Now I say we approach this using a combination of two previous approaches."

"We're listening," Piper said, leaning forward.

"Prue once fought a demon of dreams. All she had to was kill him."

"So I kill him?" Paige asked.

"Not by yourself, you don't. Remember that time last year where we had to get into Piper's head?"

"Yeah."

"I get it," Piper said. "We tweak it so that we can get into Paige's dreams and-"

"Help me vanquish Odysseus," Paige finished.

"Exactly," Phoebe said.

"This could work. Is the spell in the book?"

"Of course it is." Phoebe flipped to the correct page. "I don't think we'll need to change the wording a bit, actually. It should work the way it is."

Paige and Piper nodded in agreement. "Looks like we've got a plan," Piper said. "Next time Paige falls asleep, we'll say the spell and get into her head."

"The last part of that phrase really frightened me," Paige stated.

"What? Afraid we'll see something we're not supposed to?" Phoebe teased.

"You wish," Paige replied, crossing her arms. "Who has a good movie to watch while we wait? Piper, you've usually got some good ones."

"Nah. Ask Phoebe."

"Getting a response from the column could take awhile." Both Phoebe and Piper whacked Paige. "Alright, alright. I'll ask Phoebe."

"And I'll ask TBS. Ah, the Rookie. This should put you to sleep fast."


End file.
